Rick Perry Falls on Hard Times: Stops Paying Staff

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) presidential campaign is going broke. So broke, that Perry is unable to continue paying his staffers, reported the Huffington Post. Hiring a legal defense team to fend off a felony charge gets expensive.

Perry’s campaign stopped paying its six staffers in South Carolina, according to sources close to Perry. The campaign later reported that all staffers were no longer receiving payments, but are now acting on a volunteer basis.

“As the campaign moves along, tough decisions have to be made in respect to both monetary and time related resources,” said Perry spokesperson Lucy Nashad. “Governor Perry remains committed to competing in the early states and will continue to have a strong presence in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The [governor] is also looking forward to his trips to South Carolina this Thursday and Iowa next week.

In today’s political climate, money is essential. It’s only August 2015 and his campaign is already running out of money. His fundraising efforts have completely tanked, only bringing in $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2015. Last month, Perry’s campaign had only $884,000 on hand.

Could his felonious abuse of power charge have something to do with this? By January, Perry had dropped a hefty $1 million on lawyers to file appeals and bury the charge deep within the legal system because he was considering a run for 2016. Perry’s money troubles are an early sign that his campaign is done for.